The Altarejos/Bonife Experience

It was the invitational premiere screening of Little Boy Big Boy at Robinson's Galleria. It's the 4th film of the Altarejos and Bonife tandem under the Beyond the Box Productions. After the success of the 3 indie films they made that tackled about different homosexual perspectives, they have given the public another story to watch. I was pleased to be one of the first few people to see this film. And indeed, it's a good movie to watch.

It was a feel-good movie. A light story that actually has a lot of sense in different perspectives. What I liked about the film was that, the movie did not promise anything big in the beginning. So it ended up according to your expectation without regret. It was a realistic story that evolved in a normal gay set-up in terms of relationships, meet-ups, sex and involving people around you. And that I mean of the little boy in the cast.


I really thought that the little boy was the kid of Paolo Rivero in the movie, that's why it attracted a single dad like me. That was my impression in the trailer. But I was wrong when I watched it. The boy just entered in to his life when his girl friend left for hongkong to meet up a guy and left her son to him for a few weeks. That is where the story began. The life of a big boy with a little boy.

I like the honesty of the story. It teaches you that homosexuality is not a lie. It is not something that you should hide, that you should not be ashamed of. It is something to be told, to anyone, especially to the innocent ones. I like how Paolo explained this to the kid. Not controversial and not vulgar. How lovely it was to see how easy for a little boy to accept the gay truth compare to adults nowadays. How I imagine a world so easy for PLUs when acceptance is just like that.


It was an eye-opener for me also seeing an orgy session in the film, which I was told that in real situations of sexual adventures, that's how it is being done. I never experienced that and I barely meet people who does activities such as that. It never turned out to be a lustful or titillating scene as they have injected humor during the session thru a payatot and a fat guy doing comic scenes. I swear, that really made me laugh.

For a romantic TL, the best part of the movie, and yes, I have to admit the "kilig experience", were the cheesy scenes of the film. Yes, they have. And what impressed me was that, it was done artistically. They used regular lines, small acting, but nice set-up and scoring which made it look so real and what really happens in real life. That I think is the part where a lot of PLUs have related themselves to the movie. It did not turn out to be a trying hard scene.


That is what I like in the movie. It captures you. It makes you think. It makes you realize things. It allows you to participate emotionally and mentally. It gives you a big screen of your own lines, and somehow, a scene of your own life. I will not deny the fact that there were scenes I wished the scoring was not that loud, and I can also say it was not a heavy movie as Antonio and Parola. But the LB/BB movie is a good treat for everyone.

I am assuming that the movie was shot in the house of the director. I remember seeing it in his partner's blogsite. But anyways, another assumption I'd like to make is that, how the movie was executed by the director is a reflection of how he is in his life in terms of relationship. The way scenes were captured comes from deep experience in love. That's why it translated in a realistic manner.

I was touched how the director thanked his partner (Mark Xander) as part of the success of this movie making before the film started during his speech. Sweet! And the translation of a continous strong partnership of the director and the writer translates sensible films in their list. Looking forward to the next film they announced during the premiere. Another one to watch.

Lastly, on a personal note, 3 things in the movie that made me relate so much to it:

(1) The cavite location of Douglas Robinson where he was asked by Paolo where does he live. I remember my ex who was from cavite as well. And the driving scene where Paolo was willing to drive so he can spend time with Douglas. I have related to that. Hehe.

(2) The strong accent of Douglas where I remember another ex of mine. The accent that never did matter in the relationship. That made me miss him. I'm not so sure though if it was the real accent of Douglas (lex, can you clarify?)

(3) The Paolo and the little boy scene where he cried because the little boy is about to leave him. The lines he said was similar to some lines I mentioned to my daughter when she left. And that gave me tears in my eyes and a tap on my shoulder from my friend Jze.

I wanna thank Lex for the tickets. If not by him, I won't be able to see this masterpiece they have created. Kudos for another good film. And watch out for the release of this film in theatres soon. Let us support this one good movie especially made for us PLUs. And have another Altarejos/Bonife experience...